


The Pull of You

by ieatboyss



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Babies, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, HEA, I stray from canon but only slightly, I'm taking liberties with several things guys, No Pregnancy, Post TROS, TROS Fix IT, That's Not How The Force Works (Star Wars), mention of a future reylo baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:48:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24318346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ieatboyss/pseuds/ieatboyss
Summary: Rey is struggling to come to terms with the events that took place on Exegol.She travels to Ahch-To, hoping the solitude will help her cope with her loss.The Force has other plans.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 50
Kudos: 105





	The Pull of You

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't strictly canon. I take quite a few liberties regarding the Force and its capabilities. 
> 
> Originally posted May 2020
> 
> Revised December 2020

_Something's leaving me behind  
_ _It's just a feeling in my mind  
_ _What was it, you always said?  
_ _We're connected by a thread  
_ _If we're ever far apart  
_ _I'll still feel the pull of you_

_  
The National- The Pull of You _

* * *

It was supposed to get easier with time, at least that’s what Maz told her. Rey respected Maz and always took what she said to heart. Time would pass and the pain would lessen, or so she was told. She desperately wanted to believe that but she couldn’t. Unfortunately, everyone experiences the loss of a loved one, but no-one experienced loss as she had.

No one knew what it was like to be part of a dyad which meant no one knew what it was like to lose their other half. The person who literally completed her was gone, leaving her incomplete, hollow.

_“What Palpatine doesn’t know is that we are a dyad in the Force, Rey. Two that are one.”_

At the time his words had angered her because she knew they were true. She so desperately tried to see him as the masked menace, Kylo Ren, and not the man in the hut who nervously reached out his hand, hoping to touch hers. 

Being part of a dyad meant there was no escaping the infuriating pull she felt to him. It meant they were meant to be together, regardless of circumstance. Which is something she knew, deep down. Even if he didn’t have a word to describe their connection, he knew it too. He always knew and now he had proof, validation that what he felt wasn’t some crush or infatuation. The reason his every thought was consumed by her was because they completed each other.

Whenever Rey was alone her mind immediately began running through “what if” situations. She analyzed how their lives may have changed had she made different decisions.

What if she had agreed to let her teach her the ways of the Force on Starkiller? 

What if she had taken his hand in the throne room?

What if she had asked him to run away with her? He wanted to let the past die. He wanted to forget about the Jedi, the Sith, the First Order, the Resistance, all of it. 

If she had asked him to get in a ship and fly to the outer rim with her, would he have? Or would the new title of Supreme Leader be too enticing to pass up, even for her?

What if she had tried to talk to him instead of using the Force to take the lightsaber from him?

What if she explained why she had no desire to rule but made it clear she did want to stay by his side? Would he have understood and left with her?

What if she had agreed to go with him to Exegol? They could have killed Palpatine together, side by side, united.

The thoughts were constant and overwhelming.

_“The life-force of your bond. A dyad in the Force! Unseen for generations.”_

Their bond had a life-force yet it wasn’t enough to keep her alive, and in turn, him. What was the point of connecting them, of bringing them together, only so they could be ripped apart?

Rey had been alone for most of her life. Loneliness was her only companion. She always felt like something was missing. She assumed that something was friends or a family. 

It wasn’t though. 

What she had been missing was Ben Solo. 

For the first time in her life, she felt complete.

Whole.

The feeling was fleeting.

Now that she knew what it felt like to be whole, it was hard to ignore the fact that she wasn’t. The feeling of being incomplete was no longer something she only thought about late at night while staring at the tallies on the wall. It was constant and all-consuming now. A persistent ache in her chest that refused to go away, no matter who she surrounded herself with. 

Rey thought she found a home with the Resistance, she definitely found a family. Regardless of how close she was with Finn and Leia, it didn’t feel like home. 

Being with Ben did.

She felt it the moment they acknowledged their bond. 

For the briefest moment, she was home.

Feeling hopeless and powerless, Rey had been a step away from doing Palpatine's bidding in an effort to save her friends. When she felt Ben nearby, his mere presence gave her the strength she needed to defeat Palpatine’s guards and confront her grandfather.

In the end, it wasn’t enough.

The Jedi of the past came to her rescue. Their faith in her gave her the strength she needed to defeat Palpatine once and for all.

It wasn’t until she collapsed to the ground did she realize that they used her. 

She had been nothing but their vessel.

The last Skywalker, her other half, was alone and in pain at the bottom of a pit while they came to her aid instead of his. 

Rey was not a bitter person and she rarely held a grudge. 

However, after Exegol she found herself bitter, resentful, almost hateful towards the Force and the former Jedi’s she once admired.

  
  


Rey flew back to the Resistance base to ensure her friends were alive and well once Ben became one with the Force.

She tried her best to explain the bond she shared with him and the role he played in ending the battle, but none of them believed her. They still saw him as the enemy and nothing she said could change their minds. It’s not like she had any proof of his redemption. All she had was a ripped black sweater. The only thing that proved was how many layers the Supreme Leader wore on a regular basis.

After multiple failed attempts at explaining things, she gave up and chose to isolate herself when possible. She had never felt so alone and this time, she didn’t have Ben around to tell her she wasn’t.

Rey had planned to leave once the med droid patched her up but Finn and Poe were adamant against her leaving so soon. To avoid an argument, she stayed with them for a few days.

In private, she spoke to Chewie about what she needed to do and asked to take the Falcon. There were plenty of ships she could have taken to flee the base but the comfort and familiarity the Falcon brought was something she desperately needed. As expected, with a few growls and grunts, he gave her his blessing. 

The large Wookie embraced her roughly when she said goodbye. Although she didn’t plan on never seeing Chewie again, after losing Leia, she felt like every goodbye might be the last. 

Aside from Chewie, no one else knew Rey was leaving, which meant no one could try and talk her out of it. She was tired of arguing, tired of being told how she should feel, and tired of being told things would get better soon. 

In the middle of the night, when she was certain her friends were asleep, Rey ran to the Falcon, started her engine, and flew away from the base without a backward glance.

Unbeknownst to her, BB-8 had overheard her conversation with Chewie and had snuck onto the ship. He didn’t make himself known until she was nearing Tatooine.

Rey was extremely irritated with the small droid, but seeing how nervous he was at being caught made her irritation quickly disappear. Once he was sure she wasn’t going to throw him out of the escape hatch, he started asking questions. 

She agreed to answer them on one condition, he was not to contact anyone on the Resistance base. If he could agree to that she would let him tag along with her instead of putting him in one of the escape pods and setting off his distress signal for Poe to find. 

* * *

Tatooine reminded her too much of Jakku. She would never choose to visit the desert planet if she didn’t have a reason to. 

The two lightsabers she carried weighed on her and unfortunately, she couldn’t think of anywhere else to leave them as a memorial of sorts. 

Tatooine held some significance to the Skywalkers. Whether it was positive or not, Rey honestly wasn’t sure. Her time with Luke didn’t consist of heart to heart conversations and lamenting about their pasts. She knew very little about the Luke Skywalker that existed before Ahch-To. All she knew was that Lars Homestead was his childhood home.

As for Leia, Alderaan was destroyed. Han and Ben were gone. She had no idea whether or not their home on Chandrila still existed. Tatooine was the fallback. 

After unceremoniously burying the lightsabers in the sand near Luke’s former home, Rey stood and walked back to the Falcon. 

An older woman approached her before she could board the ship.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Rey.”

“Rey who?”

Pausing, she took a moment to consider the answer to the woman’s innocent question.

Who was she? Who _is_ she?

She could say Rey Palpatine but even thinking that sent a shiver of disgust down her spine. Quite frankly, she would rather bury herself in the sand next to the sabers than admit she was related to that monster.

She could say Rey Organa, but that didn’t feel right. 

She could say Rey Skywalker, but that also felt wrong. Every interaction she had with him while he was alive was laced with distrust and condescendence. The only polite conversation they ever had was when he came to her while she was destroying Ben’s ship on Ahch-To but he was already dead so she wasn’t sure that actually counts.

The last option, Solo. 

She could say Rey Solo but it wouldn’t be true. Perhaps in another life, but not in her current one. Ben wasn’t around to give her that name and neither was Han.

A familiar presence drew Rey’s attention to her right, across the sand, in the distance. 

The barely visible ghosts of Luke and Leia smiled fondly at her.

Not wanting the old woman to think she was being rude and ignoring her, Rey quickly turned her head back to her. Confusion regarding her identity floated away, across the sand towards the Skywalker twins.

“Just Rey.”

The old woman nodded to her in acknowledgment before continuing on her way. 

Rey expected Leia and Luke to be gone when she turned her attention back to them but they were still there, hovering nearby, and smiling at her.

“Nice of you to show up. Where were you when Ben needed you? You came to help me when it benefited the Force and the Jedi but when your own family needed you, you were nowhere to be found. Once again he was all alone, just like I am, just like I will always be. You should be ashamed of yourselves,” Rey hissed, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill.

Rey turned her back on the Skywalker’s, quickly boarded the Falcon, entered the cockpit, and set the coordinates to Ahch-To.

* * *

She hadn’t thought about what she was going to do after burying the lightsabers but she wasn’t ready to go back to her friends yet. When deciding on Ahch-To it was simply out of familiarity and not the need to isolate herself. Yet the thought became more appealing the closer they got to the planet.

Ahch-To was probably the only place she could go that her friends wouldn’t find her. It was one of the only places she had fond memories of and “fond” was being used loosely. 

In truth, it was where she knew she’d feel closest to Ben.

* * *

Rey had no idea why she was running toward the unsettling cave the moment the Falcon’s ramp was lowered. The Force was practically pulling her towards it. Whatever she saw while down there this time was something the Force wanted her to see. 

Once in the cave she practically dove into the dark hole in the center of the cave floor. Although still unsettling, free falling through a dark and ominous hole in the ground was a lot less terrifying now that she knew what awaited her. 

Although the water was cold enough to momentarily shock her system, her determination was unhindered. She swam to the surface as quickly as possible, gasping for air and wildly looking around the cave.

When her eyes landed on the mirror-like surface to her left, she pulled herself out of the water and scrambled towards it.

The last time Rey stood in front of the wall she asked about her parents. At the time, she desperately wanted to know who they were and where they were, but now that was inconsequential. She wanted to ask about Ben, but she was afraid of what she would see. He was gone and there was nothing she could do about it so why bother?

The only question she had was why the Force wanted her there, back in the cave.

Rey stood nervously in front of the wall and spoke quietly. 

“Show me...show me anything...something...why am I here?”

As if the action would help her get a response, she pressed her hand against the cold, smooth surface of the cave wall for what felt like hours. Discouraged and disappointed, she began to pull her hand away. The moment her fingertips left the wall, a shadow appeared.

Instead of two shadows merging into one like the last time, only one approached. When it stood directly in front of her, it outstretched its arm and placed its hand against the smooth surface between them.

Without hesitation, Rey did the same.

When nothing happened, her eyes welled with tears. There were no duplicate versions of herself, no voices, nothing. Just the large outline of someone with their hand pressed against hers.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and wiped away the few treacherous tears she couldn’t keep at bay. Once again, she began to pull her hand back but stopped when the wall rippled underneath her palm. The movement was so small that for a moment she thought she might have imagined it.

The rippling intensified. Startled, she tried to pull her hand back but froze when a hand passed through the wall, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her into the unknown.

* * *

Rey fell headfirst into darkness. As she fell she braced herself for the inevitable impact with the ground or the shock of being submerged in freezing water again. 

Neither happened. 

Instead, she landed face-first onto a semi-soft surface, hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs, but not hard enough to cause any physical damage. 

“Ow,” she grunted, lifting herself up off the ground. 

Once upright, she took in her surroundings and froze. Panic coursed through her veins when she realized where she was.

The AT-AT she once called home looked the same as when she left it. Even the depressing handmade doll was still resting in the same place. When Rey’s eyes landed on the wall of tally marks, she did her best to block out the painful memories. 

Panic and hopelessness began to course through her veins at an alarming rate. The walls felt like they were closing in and it was suddenly hard to breathe. She fell backwards onto the ground and brought her knees up to her chest. Placing her head in her hands, she desperately tried to calm herself down.

Once she was relatively under control, she sat in front of the wall and stared at it as if facing down an old enemy on the battlefield. 

Movement caught her eye, tearing her focus away from the offending steel. A blue butterfly effortlessly flew through the makeshift entrance, through the structure, directly towards her.

Instinctually, she held out her pointer finger for the butterfly and smiled when it happily accepted the offered resting place. Rey had only seen a butterfly in a holo she had found stored away in a box of random items on the Falcon. In the holo, they weren’t nearly as approachable as the one on her finger seemed to be.

“Of all the places for you to fly into, the depressing remains of an old AT-AT on Jakku is where you chose,” she chuckled. 

As if the sound of her laughter startled it, the butterfly left Rey’s finger and flew back towards the way it came. Instead of flying away, it hovered near the entrance almost expectantly. She opened her mouth to speak but her words died in her mouth when she heard a voice.

_“They’re not coming back. But there’s someone who still could. With your help.”_

Rey gasped and scrambled to the entrance of the AT-AT as fast as she could. Once the butterfly noticed she was following it, it quickly slipped out of the entrance and into what should have been the scorching heat of the Jakku desert. Instead, Rey found herself on the floor in the basement of Maz’s castle, the same spot she had been when she first found Anakin’s lightsaber.

The room was empty, just like it had been when she was there the first time; only this time it was eerily quiet. There were no distant sounds of rowdy bar patrons arguing over inconsequential nonsense. Just the very hushed sound of the butterfly's wings fluttering as it hovered nearby. 

Rey looked around the room for some sort of sign, anything that would tell her why she was re-visiting that specific place, but came up with nothing. Sensing Rey’s resignation, the butterfly started to fly towards the stairwell leading out of the basement. Knowing she should follow it, Rey reluctantly climbed to her feet.

Her heart nearly stopped beating when she heard a familiar voice echoing ahead of her.

_“Don’t be afraid. I feel it too.”_

“Ben,” Rey whispered, running up the stairs. 

When she barrelled through the door that led out of the basement, she was no longer in Maz’s castle, she was in the interrogation room on Starkiller Base. 

Directly to her left was the chair she had woken up in, terrified and disoriented. She stood next to it and stared at the spot where Ben had been crouched, waiting for her to wake up. She remembered how hard he tried to intimidate her, and how he succeeded at first. 

He lost his edge the moment he took off his mask.

_“You’re not alone.”_

Rey didn’t need the butterfly to know which way she needed to go. There was only one door in and out of the room. Even if she had more options to choose from, she knew she’d make the right choice as long as she used Ben’s voice as her guide.

Before opening the door she paused and took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the next location. She may not have a precise idea of where she was about to be but she had a feeling it would be someplace familiar.

When she walked through the door of the interrogation room she was standing in her hut on Ahch-To. The small fire was still flickering in the center of the hut the way it had been the last time she was there. The biggest difference was Ben’s absence. He wasn’t slowly removing his glove to hesitantly reach out to her, hand trembling with a mix of fear and uncertainty. The rain wasn’t pounding on the roof, and Luke wasn’t barreling in to ruin one of the most intimate moments of her life. 

“ _Join me... please._ ”

Rey exited the hut and found herself standing in the middle of Snoke’s throne room, surrounded by destruction. The former Supreme Leader laid dead, in two pieces, on the floor in front of his chair. The bodies of the praetorian guards were scattered around the room. Although she heard Ben, once again he wasn’t in the room with her and neither was the butterfly.

Her throat felt tight and her eyes began to burn as she tried to hold back her tears.

“Why are you showing me all of this?” Rey asked, tears slowly forming and falling. “I don’t understand.”

Across the room, the doors to the elevator opened. 

_“We’re a Dyad Rey, two that are one,”_ The voice whispered from the elevator. 

She knew once she stepped inside she’d be back in the hangar, hovering over Kijimi.

As if sensing her frustration, the little blue butterfly seemingly appeared out of nowhere and landed on her hand. She stared at it for a long moment, hoping it would somehow talk and explain why she was being forced to stroll down memory lane when she knew exactly where the path ended.

Sighing, Rey stepped into the elevator. Instead of walking into the hangar as she expected, she stepped into complete darkness. She wasn’t in a room, she was in a void. Black surrounded her on all sides except for white lines lining the ground like pathway markers. In the distance were white circular archways. Hesitantly, she took a step into what seemed like open air and to her relief, stepped onto solid ground.

Each step she took was illuminated as she ventured further into the unknown. 

The path she followed stopped directly in front of the only moving archway. White wolf symbols ran in a circular motion, drawing her attention away from what was happening in front of her. The archway wasn’t an archway at all, it was a portal. Through it she could see the Falcon, docked in the same place she left it before sprinting towards the cave. 

Had she come full circle? Was the painful trip down memory lane what the Force wanted her to see? 

The butterfly flew through the portal and Rey quickly followed after it. Once back on Ahch-To, she approached the Falcon’s lowered ramp. She knew she must still be in the cave because she was certain BB-8 lifted it once she left the ship. 

“Why are you bringing me here? All of the places you’ve shown me relate to Ben and I, but the Falcon doesn’t. Rey’s brow furrowed with confusion as she followed the butterfly. “We have our own individual memories here but not tog—” 

Rey felt him the moment she stepped onto the Falcon.

The words froze at the tip of her tongue and all coherent thoughts left her mind. The emotions she felt all at once were so intense she nearly lost her balance.

Ben.

The ache in her chest disappeared. The open wound she had been living with was gone. She was whole again.

Rey closed her eyes and basked in the feel of his life Force nearby. Her eyes opened slowly and her brow furrowed minutely when she sensed someone with him. Someone new yet, familiar. 

Her feet started moving towards the cockpit as if on their own. Her body knew where he was and was impatient to find him.

Ben sat in the pilot’s seat as if he’d been waiting for her. The cuts to his face were gone. The broken lip from the fight with his former knights was healed. His hair wasn’t sweat-soaked and clinging to his head, and his eyes weren’t red-rimmed from crying. He looked healthy, not as pale, and not as tormented.

He was dressed exactly like Han, only in all black of course. Under normal circumstances, she would have rolled her eyes. So enthralled with Ben’s physical appearance, Rey failed to notice what he was holding.

A little boy sat on Ben’s lap. Having no experience with children, Rey had no idea how old he was. He couldn’t sit up on his own, but he could grip a familiar set of gold dice in his tiny hand. He stared up at her with his little fist partially shoved in his mouth. Copious amounts of drool dripped down his arm and onto Ben’s pants. 

It didn’t take her long to realize who the baby belonged to, or who he _could have_ belonged to. The color and shape of his eyes were a copy of hers but aside from that, he was a miniature version of his father, Ben. The thick mop of wavy black hair was barely long enough to cover his ears which were a little too big for his head. The combination of features left no doubt as to who his parents were. 

“Ben,” Rey whispered, so quietly she wasn’t sure if she had spoken it or thought it. 

“Hi sweetheart,” he said, smiling up at her. 

She stared, unblinking, committing the sight to memory. She had been so afraid she would forget his dimples and the way his eyes crinkled at the corner when he graced her with a genuine smile.

He angled his legs to the right until they hung over the edge of the seat, planting his feet directly between his seat and the co-pilot’s seat. 

Rey glanced between him and the baby boy in his arms numerous times, still not believing what she was seeing and doing her best not to cry.

“This is cruel,” she whispered, voice straining as she struggled to control her emotions. “The Force took you from me, yet it’s showing me what I can’t have. It took you from me before I could even— “

The tightness in Rey’s throat intensified, preventing her from finishing her sentence without tears. She looked away from Ben and sat sideways in the co-pilot's seat, directly facing Ben with her feet planted next to his. He widened his legs to make room for hers. 

She stared at the little boy who could have been their son. 

Reaching out, she took his drool covered hand in hers and rubbed the back of it with her thumb. The baby boy cooed up at her and smiled a familiar looking, dimpled smile before wrapping his tiny fingers around one of hers. The dice were a forgotten memory as they fell to the ground.

With the hand not holding the baby, Ben reached out and cupped her cheek. Rey closed her eyes and leaned into the warmth of his palm. 

“I know you’re not really here. I know you’re gone and this is some sort of Force vision, but it feels real, and that makes it so much worse. This is different from the other visions I’ve had. Maybe I drowned when I hit the water and I’m dead. Maybe this is— ”

“Maybe when the Force tried to take me I told it to kriff off because I wasn’t crossing over to the next life without you. Maybe this is someplace in between life and death and to prevent me from dying twice, the second time from boredom, they stuck me with this adorable kid as a way to show us what our next life has in store for us.”

Rey couldn’t help but smile at that.

“Or maybe this is a dream. Your dream or my dream, it doesn’t really matter. That’s a question only the Force can answer. You’re my other half, my soulmate, and you complete me. We are two that are one. That’s what I know. It’s all I need to know,” he smirked.

He cleared his throat and did his best to school his features before he spoke again.

“I’ve been told my actions on Exegol have redeemed me for my past discretions.” 

He waved his hand in the air dismissively, as if being redeemed meant nothing to him. The emotion in his eyes made it clear it meant the world. 

“I’m assuming that means I can no longer choke the lives out of those who annoy me,” he said casually. 

Rey wasn’t sure whether she should laugh at how relaxed he seemed to be or scold him for the nonchalant way he spoke about taking someone’s life. 

“However, if this is a dream, redemption be damned, I will end the life of whoever wakes me up.”

Rey glanced from the cheerfulness in his eyes to the baby in his lap, as if she expected the kid to look appalled at what his father just said. Instead, he giggled, which would be far more concerning if what she was experiencing were real.

Ben’s hand slid from her cheek to the back of her neck before pulling her towards him until his forehead rested against hers.

At that moment she realized if given the choice she would stay with him, with them. 

Knowing the longer she stayed the harder it would be to leave, Rey hesitantly pulled away from Ben. The moment their eyes met she knew that no matter how much time passed, the pain of losing him would remain. 

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. The blue butterfly was back and fluttering near the ramp, wordless telling her their time was up. 

Rey looked down at the little boy once more. He stared up at her with a toothless smile. She ran her fingers through his thick hair, leaned down, and gently kissed him on the forehead. Knowing she would never see him again, she did her best to commit his little face to memory.

She stood between Ben’s parted knees and stared down at him. He looked up at her with an overwhelming amount of affection in his eyes, affection laced with sadness. Even if he wasn’t real, the look he was giving her was breaking what remained of her heart. She did her best to smile reassuringly but she knew it was far from convincing considering how hard she was crying.

Rey cupped his face in both of her hands and traced the planes of his face with her eyes. Memorizing his angular jawline, the whiskey color of his eyes, the small cluster of moles scattered across his cheeks, and his plush bottom lip. She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead softly, the way she had with the little boy.

Close to losing her resolve, Rey quickly released his face and left the Falcon’s cockpit. She was about to walk down the ramp when Ben called out to her. She froze but refused to glance back at him.

“No one’s ever really gone. I don’t know how, but I’ll find a way back to you sweetheart. I promise.”

The moment she stepped off the Falcon’s ramp the ground went out from under her and she was falling again. This time when she fell she landed in the place that haunted her dreams. 

* * *

Lying on her back, with tears in her eyes, Rey followed the path of the lightning as it streaked through the sky above her until she was met with open space. The sound of Palpatine cruelly laughing in the distance slowly faded away.

“Be with me,” Rey whispered. She hadn’t realized she was repeatedly saying it out loud. Tears rolled down her temples and onto the ground beneath her. 

Like before, Rey heard the voices of the Jedi.

_"Rey...Bring back the balance, Rey, as I did...The Force surrounds you, Rey...Let it lift you."_

_"Every Jedi who ever lived lives in you...We stand behind you, Rey...Rise."_

_"Rey, the Force will be with you. Always."_

She only recognized one voice—Luke’s voice. If events were playing out just as before, she would rise. The strength of the Jedi who lived before her would flow through her, giving her the strength she needed to defeat Palpatine once and for all.

This time was different though. This time she knew what lied ahead for her and for Ben. By accepting their help she was agreeing to be their vessel. In doing so she would lose the half of herself she just found, she would lose Ben. 

“No,” Rey said with finality. The experience felt so real, she momentarily forgot she wasn’t actually on Exegol. 

“Rey, we’re here to help you. All the Jedi live within you,” Luke said, sternly.

“I don’t want your help. I don’t want any of it. Ben is at the bottom of a pit, alone, and in pain, yet you’re talking to me. I know how this ends. I do the Jedi’s bidding and in the process, I lose my life and I lose him. I lose a part of me I didn’t know I needed. I won’t go through it again, and neither will he.”

“Palpatine will win if you do not do this. You would let millions of people die if it meant saving one man? You would let the dark side triumph because of Ben Solo?”

“Yes,” Rey said without hesitation. The rational part of her was screaming “no,” but the part of herself that just left behind a family she could never have was screaming louder. “I won’t leave him alone. I won’t abandon him like everyone else did. I won’t fail him.” 

“Then you are no Jedi,” said a male voice. 

“If abandoning him is what it takes to be a Jedi, then I want no part of it.”

With that final statement, Rey closed her eyes in dismissal and waited for her environment to change once again.

* * *

When Rey opened her eyes she was no longer on Exegol. She was lying in front of the circular portal she had followed the butterfly through.

Sighing, she got to her feet and looked around for the butterfly, hoping he would show her a way out of the nightmare she just lived through. 

Staring down at her feet, Rey watched as the ground underneath her illuminated with each step. Without knowing where she was going, she continued forward until a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Hey, kid.” 

Han wasn’t Force-sensitive. So if her vision was fueled by the Force, whoever she was talking to couldn’t be him. At least she didn’t think so. Leia didn’t know much about the Force and Rey spent very little time with Luke. Everything she knew, she read in the Jedi texts and they didn’t exactly cover everything.

Slowly turning, she saw Han smiling at her sheepishly, as if he was afraid she might not want to see him. He looked exactly as he did the last time she saw him on Starkiller Base.

“You’re not really here are you?” Rey asked, quietly. 

“Yes...and no,” he smiled, and slowly closed the distance between them. “Leia said you weren’t too happy with any of the Skywalkers. She figured you’d be happy to see me.”

Rey had a million questions, but she was exhausted. She didn’t want to have another emotional exchange with someone who wasn’t really with her. 

“Can you show me the way out of here? I want to go back to the Falcon. I don’t want to see anything else. I’ve seen enough.”

“There’s something I want you to have.”

Han took her hand in his and turned it upwards. He placed something cold and metallic into the center of her palm and curled her fingers around it. Rey’s brow furrowed with confusion. When she uncurled her fingers she was looking down at Han’s dice.

Leia had mentioned having them in passing, after the events on Crait. When she asked about them after she died, no one knew where she put them. Rey doubted she was holding Han’s actual dice but she was still momentarily shocked when she saw them again.

“Han, I don’t understand,” Rey said, as tears welled in her eyes once again.

“My grandson will need something to remember me by,” he chuckled.

“What?” Rey whispered.

“Take care of my son.”

“Han wait! I— “

The last thing Rey saw before everything went black, was Han Solo smiling at her mischievously. 

* * *

With a gasp, Rey shot up into a sitting position and frantically looked around. She was back in the cave but in a completely different area. She sat next to the large hole she had dove through before finding the mirrored cave wall. 

She lifted her hand, fully intending on placing it on her chest in an attempt to slow her rapidly beating heart, but froze when she realized there was something in her hand. She didn’t need to uncurl her fingers to know what she was holding.

If she had Han’s dice that meant what she had seen was far more real than she thought it was, and that meant so was Ben. 

Rey pulled her knees up to her chest and willed herself not to cry as she clutched the dice firmly in her hand. 

A small groan echoed throughout the cavern from behind her. Startled, Rey scrambled backward. Her eyes widened and she gasped when her eyes found the source of the noise.

A very naked Ben Solo was lying a stone's throw away from where she sat. Without hesitation, she rushed to his side, reached out to him, but paused before their skin touched. Rey hovered above him and stared down at him. 

_“What if this is another vision?”_ Rey thought to herself. 

She didn’t think she could handle having to say goodbye to him for a third time. He looked exactly like he had when she saw him on the Falcon with their son, only he was wearing a lot less. 

Ben groaned again and opened his eyes. He blinked a couple of times, and stared up at her, momentarily confused and disoriented. Seconds later a smile bigger than she thought was possible, spread from ear to ear. His arms wrapped around her and roughly pulled her to his chest before she had a chance to understand what was happening. 

“Ben,” she whispered into his neck. 

“Rey,” he whispered into hers.

“Are you really here? Is this another vision?”

She could feel the vibration from his chest when he chuckled.

“Yes, I’m really here.”

“How?”

“I told you, I wasn’t going anywhere without you. My mother said you basically told the Jedi to screw themselves. Luke,” he paused. Rey could feel him swallow hard before continuing. “I guess it sparked something in Luke. He gave me the last of his life force and brought me back. He’s...he’s gone now.”

Rey pressed her face deeper into the warmth of his neck and inhaled deeply. 

“I don’t understand how you’re here,” she whispered against his neck. Her warm breath against his neck sent a shiver down his spine.

“I’ll be happy to explain it to you but I’m... I’m very naked and cold,” he said hesitantly. When she pulled back and looked down at him his cheeks were so red they looked painful and he was glancing everywhere but at her.

“Oh right,” Rey said quietly. 

She felt warmth spread across her cheeks indicating hers were likely just as red. She quickly got to her feet and removed the oversized poncho she was wearing and handed it to him while staring at the wall to their left.

“Um... you can wear this for now. I have the clothes you were wearing on Exegol in the Falcon. We’ll have to stop somewhere and get you something else.” 

He nodded and got to his feet. Rey averted her eyes until he was standing in front of her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t look away for very long out of fear he would fade away again.

She stood in front of him awkwardly as he pulled her poncho over his head. It barely passed his belly button, completely defeating its purpose. Huffing, he lifted it over his head and tied it around his waist like a _very_ small towel. Once he was sure all of his important parts were modestly covered, he glanced back at Rey. She was still staring at him intensely with an expression he couldn’t quite place.

“Rey?” Ben took a step towards her until there was barely any space between them.

“You really are here,” she whispered.

He cradled her face in his hands and graced her with another heart-stopping smile.

“I told you I’d find my way back to you. I promised,” Ben said. 

Before she could respond, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers.

Rey couldn’t help but smile.

She was home.

* * *

This gorgeous mood board was made by [adambsolodriver](https://twitter.com/adambsolodriver) on Twitter

__

**Author's Note:**

> So I kind of said fuck canon when it involves the World Between Worlds and the Force.
> 
> This is my first and only Reylo fic so hopefully it didn't suck.
> 
> This whole fic happened because I was re-watching Game of Thrones and tweeted about Reylo-ing the scene between  
> Dany and Drogo in the House of the Undying. The tweet turned into a thread with various suggestions on how the scene would play out.
> 
> [The original tweet](https://twitter.com/sam_ieatboyss/status/1263266918821027840?s=20)
> 
>   
> Credit is due to  
> [@adambsolodriver](https://twitter.com/adambsolodriver?s=20) for the butterfly suggestion and for the beautiful moodboard!


End file.
